Victoria’s Secret gets up close and personal with GenAI

victoria secretLingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret has signed a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to adopt AI and generative AI technologies to create more personalised and inclusive online shopping experiences for its customers.

The move is also designed to improve customer and associate experiences and drive operational efficiencies within the business.

With its website now attracting more than 500 million annual visits and growing, a key priority for the company is to tap new technologies to create personalised customer experiences at scale.

It will explore a new generative AI powered conversational assistant, created with Google Cloud’s AI platform, dubbed Vertex AI.

The goal is to provide shoppers with tailored product recommendations and helpful advice based on personal preferences and life experiences – whether a customer is a sports enthusiast, a nursing mother, a breast cancer survivor recovering from a mastectomy, or simply ready for a new bra.

In December 2022, Victoria’s Secret purchased Adore Me, a direct-to-consumer lingerie company, with the goal of using its technology and expertise to continue to improve the Victoria’s Secret and sub-brand Pink customer shopping experience and accelerate the modernisation of its digital platform.

Adore Me has already been using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform and Duet AI for Google Workspace for generative AI efforts, and this new partnership creates more synergy across the brands and allows Victoria’s Secret to more easily and quickly integrate large language models created and used by Adore Me.

Victoria’s Secret chief customer officer Chris Rupp said: “The integration of Google Cloud’s AI and generative AI technologies will not only improve the online shopping experience for our customers, but also will empower our internal teams to drive innovation across various business functions.

“This partnership signifies a new era for Victoria’s Secret, where cutting-edge technology meets our passion for enhancing the customer journey and reinforcing our position as a leader in retail.”

Google’s AI capabilities could also be used for supply chain optimisation to better forecast product demand and ensure timely inventory management, as well as support human resources and store operations through conversational and personalised associate onboarding and training programmes.

Victoria’s Secret chief information officer Murali Sundararajan said: “We are strategically implementing AI to help us better use data to benefit our customers and enhance internal processes. We’re excited about the potential use cases including international expansion planning to marketing development and supply chain optimisation.

“These initiatives could not only streamline our operations but also enable us to better meet the needs of our customers and associates.”

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